Panel amends bill on Valley river flows

Modesto-area farmers and their allies did not get the vote they wanted Monday on a bill involving river flows, but their cause is still alive.

The Assembly Natural Resources Committee considered a bill that in its original form would have required the state to address the impact to groundwater if diversions are reduced on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers.

The amended version, which passed 6-0, would require consideration of “nonflow” measures that could benefit salmon and other native fish. These could include, for example, control of nonnative predators and restoration of spawning gravels.

Dozens of supporters of the original bill, introduced by Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, descended on the Capitol for the hearing.

“We want to continue to feed families, so we support this bill,” said Joey Gonsalves, president of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, in his brief statement to the committee. It heard also from leaders in business, labor, education and other fields, many of them coming from Stanislaus and Merced counties in a pair of buses.

The bill involves a proposal by the State Water Resources Control Board to boost river flows from February to June to help reverse the decline in oceangoing fish populations. Critics said the flows would lead to increased well pumping, and to fallowed fields where pumping was not an option.

Michael Frantz, a board member for the Turlock Irrigation District, said having the Tuolumne River supply is essential to keeping the groundwater in good shape.

Steve Gomes, superintendent of schools for Merced County, said the increased pumping could damage wells that supply schools serving about 25,000 students.

“So I’m looking at bottled water and porta-potties at schools in Merced County in the very near future,” he said.

Environmentalists and commercial salmon fishermen say the rivers have suffered from diversion to farms and cities.

Doug Obegi, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the committee that the Gray bill was not needed because the state board already looks at impacts.

The bill now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The vote came nearly two weeks after the original bill narrowly passed the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee over objections by several environmental groups. A day later, Gray and another supporter were removed from the committee by Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

Also Monday, the Natural Resources Committee rejected a bill that would have streamlined the environmental review for two water storage projects that could be funded in part by the bond measure approved by voters in November. One is Temperance Flat Reservoir, on the San Joaquin River northeast of Fresno. The other is Sites Reservoir, in the hills west of the Sacramento River near Colusa.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Panel amends bill on Valley river flows."